I’ve never seen so many umbrellas in my life.
That is what my oldest daughter posted on Facebook this morning. She is a freshman at a small Baptist liberal arts college in East Texas. Today was the first day of significant rainfall since she arrived. Everyone brought their umbrella to class.
Except her.
The reason she didn’t bring one is because she grew up in the Pacific Northwest. On Puget Sound, we knew how to spot the foreigner. It was the one who is carrying the umbrella. People in Western Washington do not avoid the rain–they plow through it.
She didn’t bring an umbrella because we don’t own any.
(Live Radar from The Weather Channel App)
Here in the Texas Hill Country there has been a drought for the past three years. Rain has been scarce, but today, oh boy, today it has rained like a typical November day back in Port Orchard. My youngest daughter was planning to go the high school football game tonight, but when I picked her up she doubted her friends would go because they cancelled everything–the band, the dance, the cheerleaders, the concessions, everything because of the rain. Rain.
I distinctly remember watching Belle march in a monsoon with the South Kitsap band. Yeah. Different culture indeed.
How do the people respond to the rain where you live/grew up/used to work and so forth and so forth?